sculptor,
besides his chisel and block of marble, must have a certain amount of
technical skill, and, above all, the artistic faculty, so is it with
the enÂgraver in hard stones.
To
execute a high-class work of art on a stone of one colour is very
difficult; but stones of different colours, and with the colours
variously disposed, are those most commonly employed. Here the
difficulty is enormously increased, for the artist, besides having to
attend to the cutting, properly so called, has also to compose his
design, and to observe that in working it out he takes the fullest
advantage of the different colours of the stone.
We
shall give one example to show the wonderÂful effects that are
sometimes obtained by artists when working on stones of different
colours. The design is that of a shepherd sitting on a rock with a
staff in his hand. His face, hands, and legs are flesh colour; his coat
has several holes in it through which his shirt appears; and the artist
has taken advantage of a wood-coloured vein in the stone to represent
his staff. Beside him is a tree with some green leaves on it, and
having the trunk designed with the utmost fidelity.
Stones on which the design is raised above the general surface are called cameos; those having the design sunk below the surface are called intaglios.
The stones used for cameo-cutting are generally
